More to Life Than Hate
by Lobasola
Summary: Something happens in the Valley of the End. Sasuke finds himself back in the Leaf Village with a little problem in his hands. Will Sasuke learn that there is more to life than power and hate? Or will he throw away the gift he doesn't know he has?
1. A Punch To One's Pride

**A/N: I just had to write this! Anyway Naruto doesn't belong to me, if it did Obito would have stayed dead and someone else would be the villain.**

Chapter 1: A Punch to One's Pride

Sasuke looked down at the pile of clothes on the moist soil. He had expected to see Naruto's comatose body lying there, seemingly lifeless. But instead, his orange jumpsuit was there in his place. 'What happened?' the Uchiha asked himself as his eyes tracked sudden movement under the messy clothes. Sasuke watched mesmerized. There was something under the bright orange clothing.

The brunette reached and lifted the Orange and blue jacket from the dirt. His onyx eyes widened at the sight of a small baby where Naruto was supposed to be.

"What the hell," muttered the traitor.

The rain came down in buckets soaking the blonde infant. The baby started to whimper, cold. Uchiha Sasuke knew he had to leave. He had to go to Orochimaru. He had gotten this far and Naruto was now a weak baby. Sasuke tried to leave. But something in the depts of his dark heart ached. The least he could do is get him out of the rain. Lifting the small babe in his arms, Sasuke scanned the area for shelter. Before Sasuke made any sudden movement however he felt someone hit him in the back of the head. The Uchiha's world, was then, engulfed in darkness.

* * *

When he became conscious again, Sasuke noticed two things. He was in a hospital and he was strapped to the bed. The young ex-genin squirmed to no avail. The straps were reinforced with chakra and were impossible to break on his own.

"So you're finally awake, Sasuke." The 13 year old stopped moving and turned his head toward the window. Kakashi stood there lazily, regarding the last Uchiha in what seemed to be indifference.

"I should have known better than to think you would give up on revenge just because of a little talk," said Kakashi, closing his Icha Icha paradise book, "now look where you are…strapped to a bed…and…Naruto…what you did to him was unforgiveable Sasuke." The jounin's indifference melted away and turned into sorrow. Kakashi was beyond disappointed and felt inmense sadness at the fact Sasuke would use chidori against his own friend.

"I had to…I had to...in order to defeat Itachi-"

"You have to do what? Betray your comrades? Almost kill your supposed best friend, with the technique I specifically said was not to be used on a friend? Selling your soul comes at a grave price Sasuke," Kakashi's voice cut through the young Uchiha's excuse, "remember that."

Sasuke remained silent for a moment, scowl set firmly in place. "You…none of you understand…I can't keep playing around in this village I have to get stronger!"

Kakashi closed his one visible eye. "I can no longer acknowledge you as my student at the moment. I will inform Lady Tsunade you are awake and let her deal with you for now," muttered kakashi.

"What about Naruto?" Sasuke found himself asking.

"Maa you'll see soon enough." Kakashi disappeared leaving Sasuke alone to Think.

For the next 30 minutes the Uchiha went over the events that took place in his head.

"_CHIDORI!"_

"_RASENGAN!"_

_The two voices exploded along with their Jutsu. Naruto and Sasuke Clashed in an multicolored beam of light, that became dark purple. Inside the energy ball, Sasuke's chidori penetrated Naruto's chest a few inches from his heart. The blonde's Rasengan hit Sasuke's shoulder. For a brief second, Sasuke thought he saw a younger Naruto with a younger version of himself, shaking hands. But as soon as it came the vision went._

'After that, the idiot was somehow…' The Uchiha's thoughts were interrupted by the door slamming open. The 5th Hokage entered the room, her face was the picture of pure fury. Her honey colored eyes pierced Sasuke with their intensity but the boy didn't let himself look weak. Behind the Hokage was his former teammate Sakura.

"Uchiha Sasuke," started the hokage, "do you understand what you've done?"

Sasuke remained silent. Tsunade clenched her fists several times, "Answer me brat!"

"Hn…" grunted Sasuke.

Tsunade exhaled her gaze never leaving the aloof brunette. "Sakura, come forward please," the sannin commanded.

Sasuke watched as Sakura walked and stood beside Tsunade. He noticed she was holding a baby whom he recognized as the blonde he found…how long had he been out?

"How long was I out for?" he asked quietly.

"A week. Kakashi-sensei found you just in time ne Sasuke-kun…" Sakura said. The pinkette seemed nervous and distraught. The news that Sasuke had almost killed Naruto was a hard pill to swallow. Not to mention Chouji and Neji were badly injured from the retrieval mission.

"Anyway," Tsunade cut in, "you have very few options. Leaving the village is not one of them Uchiha. I have talked with the council and let me tell you it wasn't a walk in the park. You can either stay in prison or take care of Naruto."

Sasuke did a double take. There was no way he could take care of Naruto. He couldn't Itachi was still out there, he wouldn't rest until he was dead. He would leave the village again. He had too.

As if reading his mind Tsunade smirked, "As I told you, leaving the leaf is not an option. Your chakra has been sealed and you will be out of the ninja ranks until further notice."

Sasuke's face went from indifferent to murderous. The boy looked like had sucked a lemon.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" he roared, making Sakura flinch and Naruto wake up wailing.

"Damn well I can you brat!" Tsunade shot back, "You're lucky you weren't executed for treason! You better be grateful your Sensei and Sakura here begged me to do my best to keep you out of prison, I patched you up and healed your wounds! I have more than enough right to do this to you!" with her rant over Tsunade punched the wall behind her making a few cracks.

Letting out a breathe she calmed herself down while Sakura tried in vain to calm Naruto down.

"You will be monitored by Anbu at all times, your apartment has already been refurnished with supplies for Naruto."

"What makes you think I will accept to watch the dobe…"

"Because I know you wouldn't decline the possibility of being free. If you were in prison, you would rot there without a chance to kill your precious brother." Tsunade replied.

Sasuke grimaced and stared at the ceiling. Tsunade and Sakura left him alone to sulk.

* * *

After three more days in the hospital, Sasuke was officially discharged. He went to the hospital nursery to pick up Naruto. The Uchiha grabbed the boy and left toward his apartment. He was being followed by a few Anbu on the way. "Damn it…" cursed the young prodigy as he opened the door and turned on the lights. Everything looked the same except for a bag of diapers and bottles on the kitchen table. He went to his room and paled. To his horror, there was a crib beside his bed along with baby toys. Clothes were neatly folded on top of his bed.

"This…this has to be some one's idea of a sick joke…"

* * *

**A/N: Yep so...I got the idea from a few fanfics I've read(including Phoenix Rising). I just wanted to see what it would be like if Sasuke took care of baby Naruto instead. Oh well...*yawns***


	2. A Bottle to the Face

Chapter 2: A Bottle to the Face

Sasuke had lain Naruto down on his crib.

Sasuke was currently sitting on his bed thinking about what he would do next. He could try to escape, but he would be caught immediately by the Anbu watching his window. His chakra was sealed so there was no way for him to defend himself at the moment. He was trapped. He watched as the sun slowly came down, the sky changed colors from orange to purple. Sighing, he looked at the baby across from him. Naruto rolled onto his back and back to his stomach again several times. The infant seemed bored. But Sasuke wasn't concerned about that. Sasuke wished Naruto would just stop getting in the way for once. He wondered what could have possibly caused his regression. He was also glad to be out of that wretched hospital, finally.

The silent atmosphere was cut by a piercing cry. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the crying baby and went over to see what had upset him. He held Naruto in his arms.

"Dobe, why the hell are you crying?" the boy asked harshly which seemed to upset Naruto even more.

Naruto wriggled his arms. The baby could tell Sasuke was upset and it was making him cry harder. Sasuke glared at the crying infant and was about to yell again but was stopped by a sudden smell. It seemed to come from Naruto.

Sasuke's mouth twitched down word. He felt vile travel up to his mouth as he figured out why Naruto had been crying. "Someone will pay for putting through this…" the Uchiha glowered.

Two days prior, Sakura had come to visit him at the hospital. The pinkette was told to instruct the Uchiha how to change a baby's diaper. Sasuke was quiet throughout her explanation and made sure to pay attention to detail. Sasuke didn't ask how she knew the skill of changing diapers, nor did he care at that moment. Right now he was trying to remember what she had done. Sasuke placed the bawling baby on his night stand and quickly fled to grab clean diaper and some wipes. He darted back to his room and set the diaper and wipes on his bed.

"Could you shut up for one second?!"

Naruto bawled his fists, his mouth opening and closing as cries came out. Sasuke was about ready to pull his hair out. 'Don't kill him…don't kill him…if he dies...my freedom and chance to kill Itachi goes with him…don't…kill him…' Sasuke told himself.

Sasuke held his breath and undressed the crying infant. 'I'm dreaming…this is a nightmare…' Sasuke shut his eyes for a moment and put the clothes aside. He slowly opened his eyes and with slowly undid Naruto's dirty diaper. He wiped the baby's dirty bottom and rapidly went to throw the pooped diaper away in the trash. Sasuke pulled his hand away from the diaper as if it had burned him. He retreated back to his room and put Naruto into a clean diaper and dressed him again. The Uchiha immediately scurried to the bathroom and washed his hands 3 times.

The night continued and Sasuke thought maybe he'd be able to get some peace. The Uchiha was lost in his thoughts. But when Naruto started crying a few hours later Sasuke thought he would die. If the young boy had taken the liberty of paying attention to his young charge, he would have noticed Naruto staring at him oddly and making whimpers.

"Don't tell me you have to go again," snapped Sasuke.

Naruto's only reply was whimper followed by a hearty scream. Sasuke was running out of options. What was the reason babies cried? He remembered Sakura told him either it was because babies pooped, were hungry, or just wanted attention.

"_A baby cries because that's the only thing they can do at the moment," said Sakura, "they're too small to defend themselves or take care of themselves. So whenever Naruto's crying it's either because he's hungry, needs a diaper change, or just wants someone to hold him."_

_Sasuke wondered for moment how Sakura knew about babies and their needs. He figured Tsunade drilled her with information as soon as Naruto was back in the Leaf village. However, the question was set aside as he watched the girl change the dobe's diaper._

_Sasuke tuned out Sakura after she began to ramble on about other things and watched her handle the diaper and the position in which she was holding his former teammate. He really wanted to get out of this hospital room…_

Sighing the prodigy made his way to the kitchen. Luckily, that same day Sakura told him how to make formula. Sasuke prepared the bottle quietly. The atmosphere around him was as dark as the valley of the shadows of death. The emo was even more emo at the moment.

'It's just the first night. As soon as he's back to normal, or if he doesn't go back to normal, when he's old enough and I gain freedom back, I'll dump him on someone else.' he thought with resolve.

Sasuke walked back to his room when the bottle was ready and stiffly scooped up Naruto.

"Alright usuratonkachi, open up,"

Naruto stopped crying and stared up at Sasuke with gigantic blue eyes. Those eyes shone with innocence and curiosity. They could pull anyone in, and for a moment, Sasuke found himself staring at them. Dazed, the Uchiha held the bottle a little too close to the baby, who reached for it and threw it back at his face. The moment, effectively ruined. Naruto giggle with mirth.

"…Usuratonkachi! What the heck was that for damn it!" Sasuke rubbed his nose, glaring daggers at the giggling infant.

Sasuke set him down and the giggling stopped and was replaced with crying once more. Sasuke growled in exasperation. "What is it that you want, idiot!"

Naruto cried and cried. The poor baby only wanted Sasuke to notice him. After coming home from the hospital, Sasuke spent his time brooding. Thinking. Naruto felt very lonely. The infant felt slightly better when his diaper was changed but the feelings returned and the youngling felt the need to cry for Sasuke. Naruto wanted attention even if that meant throwing stuff. The Uchiha had made no attempt to give Naruto much needed affection after all.

"You know," an all too familiar voice said, "you could always rock him."

Sasuke turned to his window and saw Kakashi. The boy's scowl deepened, and his ebony colored eyes narrowed.

"I have a door," Sasuke remarked, "use it. "

"Nawh it's too boring that way. I am a ninja after all," Kakashi replied.

Sasuke huffed quietly, "Why are you here I thought I was no longer your student?"

"You're still one of my precious people Sasuke," Kakashi started, "even if you're not my student at the moment."

"You didn't answer my question," Sasuke muttered.

Naruto's crying had died down with the arrival of Kakashi. He was now staring at the jounin.

"Impatient as ever I see," said Kakashi, "and I said you could rock him. He's a baby Sasuke, he needs affection. Not just getting his butt wiped every few hours."

"…" Sasuke made no reply. He wasn't an affectionate person. He hasn't smiled or hugged anyone since Itachi killed the clan. Kakashi had no idea what he had asked Sasuke to do. He was asking the avenger to put aside his vendetta for…a weak baby. He had to be strong like his clan. His clan wasn't known for their displays of affection.

"Do it Sasuke," instructed the Jounin.

Sasuke remained still. He set his eyes on Naruto and studied him. 'A weak baby. Why am I stuck with him? Why didn't I just leave him when I had the chance?Why?'

"Are you scared Sasuke?" Sasuke heard Kakashi ask.

"Shut up…I'll hold him if it makes you shut up…"

Kakashi seemed pleased with that response and eye-smiled. "Alright then, I was just here to check up on you, I'll see you around Sasuke."

His ex-sensei disappeared and left the boy to his own devices. After a few minutes of mental arguments with himself(there was still that tiny voice that told him his sensei was right), Sasuke decided to hold Naruto. He didn't rock him. He just held him and stared at the moon outside. Naruto snuggled up to him which made the Uchiha look down at him.

"Oi dobe…stop that," Sasuke snapped half-heartedly.

Naruto didn't listen and curled up against his chest. His blue eyes blinking closed. In that moment Sasuke felt something other than annoyance for the blonde. He felt calmer.

**A/N: Ehhh...I have nothing to say really. Other than it's fun to make Naruto throw stuff at Sasuke(the Sasuke from part one of Naruto can still be redeemed...) Anyway...*Yawns***


End file.
